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1 Year to Complete
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Geographic Information Science (GISc)
Graduate Certificate
New students may begin June 2010
Faculty Spotlight
Brad C. Rundquist, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, UND College of Arts & Sciences
At the core of UND’s geospatial technology education is the geographic information system, or GIS. In fact, if you’re talking about statistics and other information tied to a place or location, GIS now is just about the best — and often the only — way to analyze the data.
“Everybody is using GIS now,” said Bradley Rundquist, a geographer and an up-and-coming figure in national GIS circles for his work in geospatial technologies teaching and research.
Rundquist says GIS and the techniques it brings to bear are gaining momentum across disciplines as more researchers figure out that it’s handy, relatively easy to use, and delivers terrific results that often are much easier to grasp than tables or charts.
And it’s not just the science and research community that sees the uncanny “ability” of a GIS to model decision making. A bank or a realty company, for example, can use GIS to map and analyze housing market patterns in a particular community or region.
“The GIS is a remarkably powerful tool to put together information,” Rundquist said. “Not only to understand, or try to understand, the current situation but also as a way to forecast a variety of effects and outcomes.”
“GIS is now a vital skill in many disciplines,” Rundquist notes. “And it’s a job-getter, too: Geography graduates from UND are working all over the country because GIS skills are relevant in so many jobs.”
Source: UND Discovery, Winter 2007-2008, By Juan Miguel Pedraza
